wow! that vinegar trick really worked!

[griffin2004]

My yard has the crappiest dirt on the face of the earth. However, those stickery thistle nasty weeds thrive like crazy. I didn't want to use chemicals in the backyard due to dog, chickens, and child so out of desperation did a vinegar experiment.

I poured about 1/4 c. of white vinegar on the leaves and base of each weed last night. It rained off and on today, but even so the weeds are brown and shrivelly. Woo hoo!! I can hardly wait to blast all of those bad boys.

I use vinegar for indoor cleaning and am thrilled to find an outdoor use for it, too. Hip hip hooray for vinegar!!

[shaywyn]

Yay! :

[Ellp]

Does this leave any lasting effects on the soil? Like altering pH or something?

(I'm a total newbie at gardening so please forgive the ignorance!

[griffin2004]

Ellp, from what I read I don't think so. Some recipes include salt which would definitely damage your soil.

I was so surprised that it worked even after it rained all day. Imagine how it will work on a sunny day!

[Manessa]

We've used vinegar for weed control for years and love it! I've never had it effect my soil (at least not that I can tell). Vinegar is great

[Rhiannon Feimorgan]

Yay:

I'm so glad it worked for you. Thistles like poor soil so in the long term improving your soil will also help you keep them away.

[koalove]

i use it to kill weeds coming up in our walkway and driveway. pretty awesome stuff, eh?

[laohaire]

Wow, what a great idea! I was wondering how I could deal with the weeds growing up between our slope, which is covered with granite. It just really cruddy with all the tall weeds poking up between the rocks, but I didn't want to use some nasty spray. But vinegar? Sure, I'll use that!!

[griffin2004]

Originally Posted by Rhiannon Feimorgan

Thistles like poor soil so in the long term improving your soil will also help you keep them away.

I didn't know that about thistles. If they like poor soil they must feel like they're in heaven in my yard!

My goal is soil amendment, but for now I'm just trying to beat the weeds back and get things under control.

[Three~Little~Birds]

So...
Do you just spray the weed or do you have to pull it after? If so, does the root die and pull up easily?
Does it harm the surrounding grass?
I have some serious weeds to battle...
Thanks!

[griffin2004]

This is my first experience, so I'm not the expert by any means. All I did was pour about 1/4 c. directly on the weed. These are small; under 4 inches. Haven't tried to pull them up yet.

I did read somewhere that it will kill grass if it gets on it. I'm going to try pouring it right in the middle of the dandelion leaves and see how that goes.

[griffin2004]

Amazing success again today. I vinegared another stretch of weeds @ 8:00 this morning. It was sunny and hot today. I took a look at them at 5:00 and they're all shriveled and brown.

Woot woot!! I'm in vinegar heaven!!

[darciedoodle]

DH just found a vinegar and lemon juice concentrate recipe for weeds, which said do not use around plants you don't want to kill. We just told this to someone at a neighbor's party who was concerned that it had started to sprinkle on his weed control....we were more concerned about the fish that the weed control would kill than the weed control being washed away!

[northwoods1995]

I just tried vinegar on weeds for the first time this week. It appeared to work for me too--and pretty quickly too.

I also used salt on the weeds growing in the cracks in our sidewalk and that seemed to work too. I read that using salt can make it hard for things to grow in that spot in the future so I only used salt in the sidewalks cracks.

[Jodie]

Just regular old table salt poured in the cracks?

Great tip about the vinegar. I will be trying this soon.